Pre-Bucs Stats and Superlatives

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Needs eight yards to pass Peyton Manning (21,174) for most combined yards in a player’s first five seasons.

Needs three touchdowns to catch Steve Beuerlein (36, 1999) for most passing touchdowns in a Panthers’ season.

Needs five touchdowns to catch Jake Delhomme (120) for most passing touchdowns in Panthers’ history.

Needs two rushing attempts to pass his single-season career high (127, 2012).

Panthers RB Brandon Wegher will be the deep man on kickoff returns. The undrafted rookie hasn’t returned a kickoff since he was a freshman at Iowa in the 2010 Orange Bowl against Georgia Tech.

According to Carolina’s in-house stats, LB Thomas Davis needs six tackles to pass Mike Minter (953) for most in team history.

The Panthers could become the seventh team in NFL history to win 15 games in the regular season.

The Panthers have scored 127 points off turnovers, one shy of the team record set in 2005. Carolina has outscored opponents off turnovers 127-29, converting 36 takeaways into 14 touchdowns and 10 field goals.

STREAKS

The Panthers have won a league-best nine straight regular-season home games.

Last week’s loss snapped Carolina’s 10-game December win streak. Coach Ron Rivera is 18-4 in December, tied with Seattle’s Pete Carroll for best record in the month since 2011.

The Panthers have rushed for at least 100 yards in 26 straight games. The last team to hit the century mark in as many games was the ’74-’77 Pittsburgh Steelers, who did it 43 times.

THIRD DOWN WOES

Photo: Margaret Bowles

Newton hasn’t completed a third down pass since the third quarter of Week 15. Newton has gone 0-for-9 on third downs after he connected with Ted Ginn on 3rd-and-goal from 14 to give the Panthers’ a 35-7 lead against the Giants.

The Panthers allowed the Giants and Falcons to combine for a 50 percent (15-of-30) conversion rate on third down.

MORE FROM THE PAST TWO WEEKS

Photo: Margaret Bowles

The Panthers

Allowed the Giants and Falcons to average 389.5 yards. Carolina had allowed an average of 240.4 yards in its previous five games.

Totaled two sacks against the Giants (0) and Falcons (2). Carolina had averaged 3.1 sacks per game through its first 13 games.

ODD PATTERN HEADING INTO WEEK 17

Photo: Ben Coon

Newton was named NFC Offensive Player of the Week in Weeks 9, 11, 13 and 15.